The Big Sur PreFab, created by Jennifer Siegel and Office of Mobile Design, rests high-up amidst 217 acres of California mountain wilderness. The self-sufficient residence is designed to be independent and connected to the surrounding landscape.
The folded standing seam metal roofline provides an armature to enhance the productivity of the home’s twenty solar PV panels and two solar thermal panels while also creating passive shading from the southern sun.
The 2150 square foot, 2-story home is constructed with structural insulated panels (SIPs). The prefab was created via a process that produced less material waste, a faster construction cycle, a tighter building envelope, green finishes and higher insulating properties – green building features that resulted in a lower total life-cycle cost of the home.
The first floor utilizes an open layout that emphasizes the strong relationship between the indoor living/kitchen/dining/reading (more…)
If saving money isn’t enough motivation for switching to a programmable thermostat, maybe style is. Transform your dowdy-looking old thermostat into a visually interesting photo viewer. Venstar just introduced a new – albeit expensive – thermostat with some interesting design features. The new ColorTouch thermostat is a programmable touchscreen thermostat with some visual sizzle – it allows home owners to upload up to 100 customizable backgrounds, including their own photos, which can rotate as a slide show when the thermostat is in standby mode.
You can also match your home’s color scheme with the thermostat’s customizable faceplates. (more…)
The spirit of a sportster squeezed into a golf cart? Nissan’s newest zero-emission concept looks the part, and with a name like Twizy (its sister company counterpart), how can you not fall just a little in love with the ultra-compact urban car? The automaker thought-up this two-seated, futuristic ride when considering the growing number of single households and the need to drive shorter distances in smaller groups.
Offering 100 percent electric power, Nissan’s New Mobility (more…)
Feeling bloated from clothing overload? According to growNYC.org, the average New Yorker tosses 46 pounds of clothing and textiles in the trash each year.
Donate your unwanted clothing, linens, paired shoes, bags and other pre-loved textiles to GrowNYC’s Million Pound Challenge now and they’ll handle the recycling of these items. Organized by borough, it makes recycling a cinch. Clean out your closet and drawers but do it in sustainable style – keep that stuff out of our landfills!
Related: previously on altCon
RSS
